Search - Promise Ring :: Very Emergency

Too Good

Patrick F Clifford | 01/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The guys in this band sound like they're trying to get it right.The only thing wrong with this record is that it is too consistent, too catchy, too accomplished, too well done, too straightforward, too well produced, too upbeat, too hummable, too much of culmination of everything they've done before, too overlooked by the record buying public, too much of a sunny day with nothing to do but drink beer and look at the grass grow and the sun shine (although it's 3 below outside).The Promise Ring finally got it totally right. If this record was 10 minutes longer it would bore with it's perfection. Their last few records were consistent in that they had a few really great melodic and poppy, punkish songs with some, slower, tossaways. This one charges through and only fails in being so "finished" and so dang right.Great band, great record."

Emo-core, to Emo-pop, to plain rock

Madbreaks | 02/02/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Despite the most annoying genre name to ever hit music, emo has progressed (or digressed, whichever way you look at it) to this. Although Davey said in an article I read somewhere that this was the exact album they wanted to make (which I can respect), it just didn't have the energy I wished it had. Not to say that the Promise Ring was *the* focal point of all emo, but from Cap'n Jazz to this, I suppose he has come a long way. The album is certainly straight-rock, the lyrics are contrived and deliberate, as opposed to a lot of the charming gibberish he used to write. "Skips a Beat (Over You)" kind of makes me sick to my stomach, but that's really the only song I have to skip on the album. In any case, the album falls short of my expectations as a Promise Ring album. I thought to myself, "Would I still buy this if it weren't the Promise Ring?" Well, the answer my friend is no. That is to say, if you're into this for the emo cred. it won't get you your heart on your sleeve. If you're into it for the rock'n'roll (forgive my sarcasm), then you might like it. It's *not* a bad album. Just very different and needs a little warming to, as long as you forget that the same guy that wrote "We'd know what to do when I'm shaking in my shoes, my heart skips a beat over you." used to write "Her eyes eager for Indians, down the ferry with...." Two absolutely unrelated lines, but with the subtlety in the second, it's seemingly more pointed. However that works."

3 out of 5, 5 being "Nothing Feels Good"...

Madbreaks | Portland, OR | 07/21/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The Promise Ring are really elusive. Months of listening to "Nothing Feels Good" left me a thousand miles away from where I was the first time I heard it, and it's that kind of effect that plants me firmly in the ground as a huge fan of theirs. I like what alot of people have said in their reviews because I totally agree and still wonder, how can music be both happy and sad at the same time? I don't know, but TPR do things that I don't think *anyone* can do half as well.Okay, so what about "Very Emergency"? Hmmm, kinda seems like straight-up pop music to me. But wait, who cares? Really what it comes down to is the sound, and the sound here is highly listenable. "Catchy" is kind of like the tip of the iceberg, humming these toons for hours after hearing them is unavoidable. In my optinion, though, these tracks get a bit too easy to like...there's no challenge here, the word "raw" doesn't come into play ~ night and day compared to these guys' earlier efforts. Without any kind of challenge, music tends to get boring pretty quickly, which is probably why I haven't listened to this disc much lately. 3/5 compared to their earlier stuff, but I'm still a fan and am forever keeping my fingers crossed that these guys will play in my neighborhood someday soon..."